In Germany's Hurtgen Forest, during the final days of World War 2, an exhausted and overwhelmed band of American army paratroopers fight for survival amid a deadly hidden threat, escalating internal conflict and seemingly impossible odds.

The story of Almayer, a Dutch trader struggling to survive in Malaysia at the turn of the 19th Century. His dream of finding a mythical gold mountain is challenged by his scheming wife, the colonial authorities, the political machinations of the local chief and Arab traders, and his daughter's love for a freedom-fighting Malay prince. Written by Julia Fraser